The present invention relates to a water pump of an internal combustion engine applied to an automobile, particularly to a water-proof structure of a bearing directly supporting a pulley on an outer peripheral portion of a pump housing of the water pump.
Here, since a water pump directly supporting a pulley through a bearing on an outer peripheral portion of a pump housing is configured such that one end side (pump housing side) of the bearing is directly faced with the outside, rain water and the like can easily intrude therein, and durability of the bearing has been concerned.
Thus, as a bearing water-proof structure in a conventional water pump offered for solution of such a problem, those as described in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2011-127539 below have been proposed, and in such water pump, a thin-plate shaped shielding member is provided to be sandwiched and fixed between a stepped portion formed on the outer peripheral portion of the pump housing and an inner race of the bearing so that intrusion of rain water and the like from the outside can be suppressed by this shielding member.